Medical Missions (Optical Clinic)
Optical Clinic
In 2015 an anonymous donor gave Daybreak an Auto-Refactor Kit (pictured left). This expensive computer equipment enables us to give eye-examinations which print out a prescription for eye-glasses. With this we are able to match the prescriptions with the corresponding eyeglasses in our inventory of 10,000 eye-glasses. One does not have to be an Eyedoctor (or Optometrist) to use this equipment, although one does need to be well-trained to use it properly. This is one of the most fun ministries that we have as giving people a pair of glasses (who have never had a pair) is a life-changing event (immediate results)! And, what is amazing is that this costs very little money. If you would like to contribute to this ministry, then visit our Donation page for the Optical Ministry (below). If you would like to donate eyeglasses, then see the instructions below on "How To Donate Eyeglasses" (as we are not able to receive or collect eyeglasses directly).
Medical Missions.
At one time Daybreak used to conduct a major medical mission each year (involving 60 healthcare professionals from Zambia and the USA). In recent years, however, we have determined that these large-scale efforts are not the most cost-effective means of helping the Zambia people. While the optical and dental clinics were quite effective, the general medical components were not able to do much more than hand out pain medicine (temporary solution). Thus, we have now determined that the best approach is one that is more strategic and less over-whelming (especially the optical and dental clinics as well as providing medicine/equipment to Zambian clinics).
Access to medicine is a major challenge for most Zambians. While most citizens may have access to public clinics, those clinics rarely have the medications that the patients need. Doctors do write prescriptions, but most Zambians cannot afford to buy them from the local pharmacy. Consequently, Daybreak has engaged in various efforts to buy or acquire donated medicines and medical supplies/equipment for Zambia. If you would like to donate medical supplies or donate money to buy medicine, then please email us or click on the "Donate" button below (specify in the comment section that you would like to donate money for medicine).
Preventive Healthcare.
Daybreak has devoted more and more effort to teaching basic medicine (especially preventive medicine) to our students at DBC. Students and their wives are taught how to be a Village Healthcare Officer (a position that many village have developed when there are no clinics or healthcare professionals in their area). We also teach healthcare and preventive medicine (e.g. nutrition, food security, sanitation, malaria prevention, HIV-AIDS prevention, etc).
How To Donate Eye-Glasses
We are not able to receive or collect eyeglasses directly as we do not have the ability to "read" prescriptions. It is also very expensive to ship eyeglasses to Zambia. Consequently, we have now found it best to get our eyeglasses from Kendall Optometry which is a non-profit ministry that reads eyeglasses, cleans them, bags them and enters a barcode into a computer for each pair of glasses.
If you would like to donate any prescription eye-glasses, you can do so by mailing them to: Kendall Optometry Ministry, Inc., 4820 Nottinghamshire Dr., Jeffersontown, KY 40299. If possible, you are asked to wash the glasses in your dishwasher before mailing them and to mail them without the cases. Kendall Optometry will read the prescriptions and package them with bar codes to be used in our optical ministry. The cost for this service is $.30 per glasses. If you would like to cover the cost of this service (and have the glasses sent to Zambia), then you can mail a check payable to "Zambia Missions" to Zambia Missions, 1910 Sycamore View Rd, Bartlett, TN 38134. Kendall Optometry will, then, invoice Zambia Missions for these processing costs.